In their second big adventure, Omen and his giant talking cat, Tormy, journey to a blighted land to rescue a doomed child. But the fateful quest entwines their lives with an ancient curse, and Omen has to risk everything for the sake of the innocent he refuses to abandon. Aided by his magic-wielding family, the guardian dragons of Melia, and an unexpected friend, Omen must confront cataclysmic evil. But how can anyone stand against the immortal wrath of the Dark Heart?

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This is the further adventures of Omen and his talking cat, Tormy. It is a sequel of sorts, in that some of the characters introduced in the first volume continue and there is some reference to them in the second volume. But far more detail is given to Omen’s family and new characters. It easily stands alone, though you may want to listen to the first volume first to understand the back references better.

Omen is given a quest by his mysterious older brother to rescue their long-forgotten brother in a ruined land. Omen’s magic powers are subdued in this other realm and he has to use his wits, education and Tormy’s help to rescue his god-like brother. Their lost brother has been in this ruined land for many years, perhaps centuries with no one to keep him company but the ghosts he sees and communicates with. His mind may be warped beyond repair and only Omen and Tormy vow to save him regardless of his possible affliction. A whole race of elves may suffer extermination if they can’t.

Radiation is a complicated tale of loyalty and magic. During the story, we get a lot more information about Omen’s family and his place in it. His close friend, the prince of Hex makes an appearance but is mostly out of the story until the battles begin. As with the first book, it is a fun story well suited for a young adult audience, with youthful heroes, magic, talking creatures and exciting, but less-than-frightening battles.

The story is performed by P. J. Ochlan, who is just brilliant. His voice is smooth as silk and infinitely malleable to the many characters. The lighthearted tone of the story comes through just right for the young adult listener, but enjoyable for adults as well. The character voices are all easily differentiated and appropriate for each. Certainly, any listener’s favorite will be the cute, deadly kitten and his identical twin (who is not identical at all) with a Scottish accent. How fun is that?

It is a fun and exciting fantasy novel geared for a young audience, but adults should enjoy it as well. Perhaps not quite as fresh as the first volume; it is still highly entertaining and well worth a listen. The novel stands alone and is only part of a series in the sense that the main characters return for further adventures.

About P. J. Ochlan

P.J. Ochlan is a multiple Earphones Award-winning and Audie Award-nominated narrator of more than 150 audiobooks. His acting career spans 30 years and has included Broadway, the NY Shakespeare Festival under Joseph Papp, critically acclaimed feature films and television series regular roles. He has worked with countless icons including Jodie Foster, Robin Williams, Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood and Garry Marshall.

As an instructor, P.J. is the founder of www.DrDialect.com and works as a dialect and performance coach for film, television, stage and VO; for audiobooks, he is the co-founder of the Deyan Institute in Los Angeles and has guest coached from coast to coast including at conferences and universities.

About Camilla Ochlan

Camilla grew up on fantasy and fairy tales, finding David Eddings, Katherine Kurtz, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Mercedes Lackey early on. To the dismay of her parents, she spent her high school weekends playing Dungeons & Dragons and obsessing over Greek mythology and anything supernatural. College split her time between Theatre Arts and English Literature.
Camilla still occasionally acts but focuses the majority of her time, energy and (in)sanity on writing.
Camilla’s interests revolve around activities that add to her writer’s toolbox — travel, the arts and voracious reading.
Camilla lives in the Los Angeles with her husband — actor, audiobook narrator and dialect coach P.J. Ochlan, two sweet rescue dogs and two rascally Abyssinian cats.

Lover of books, Sci-Fi, 19th Century literature, young adult, and more, as long as it's good, I'll read or listen. I'm a writer as well, my weekly art column was published for years in the Aspen Daily News, Roaring Fork Sunday and Aspen Sojourner Magazine. I have 5 books in print, all pretty entertaining if you'd like to check them out. And my Sci-Fi novel, "Threshold of the Mind" was recently produced into an audiobook, read by award winning actor: Jeff Clarke (Chicago, Mad Men).